Why are DC's minority character's lagging behind Marvel's?

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

I think the Runaways was the last new IP that really hit it off. Everything else has been legacies so they don't really count.

[Customizer]

I would like to see a Black, African or African American hero with a unique powerset like Cyborg headline his own title, team and legacy characters.

It seems like Cyborg solves all of the perceived problems DC has with regard to this topic doesn't it?

They're being softballed the answer and yet still keep striking out.

The reasoning may have more depth than most want to admit....

[Captain Nostalgia]

Hmmm all these controversial threads on CBR.

What Marvel did better was promoting original African American/black superheroes back in the 70's, which has allowed them to blossom today.
(Black Panther, Blade, Storm, Luke Cage)

DC wasn't as progressive (Black Lightning & later Cyborg) but instead slowly promoted John Stewart as a Green Lantern who as consequence, had to compete with one of DC's most popular superheroes, and has often remained in the shadow, relative to his Marvel counterparts.

As for racial diversity overall. I cannot think of a superhero that is Hispanic or Asian or of other ethnicity that gets a regular title in either DC or Marvel?

[Redjack]

I'm enjoying Green Lantern a lot, and while everything you say is true, at least the perception is that's John's book with the other lanterns as co-stars.

I don't know if too many books where the primary star is an Asian or Latino person sans Wonder Girl with Yara Flor. It's very possible I'm forgetting a book or two, but I don't know of any others off the top of my head and that's the issue. In terms of LGBTQ+, I think only Diana, Harley and Catwoman currently have books, and frankly only Harley has been historically allowed to represent her orientation on-panel for more than an issue or two in several decades (not counting Elseworlds like Bombshells where all the women are pretty much bi if not lesbians).

I'm loving your GL run and am glad you're committed to making a change, but overall DC is coming up a little short for representation.

Make no mistake, it does appear to be getting better (the specials they did for Asian and LGBTQ+ are great) but if they're not followed up on, it doesn't really amount to much for readers looking for more diversity.

We're all but confirmed to be getting another Outsiders lead by Black Lightning and Katana. Alan is a primary character in Infinite Frontier. We're getting Wonder Girl. It's getting better to be sure, but nevertheless the issue persists.

thank you for the kind words. i think issue #3 will make you happy.

we're trying hard to deliver the unexpected without breaking the mythology. this book is absolutely not going to be what anybody seems to think. in a good way.

[Aahz]

What Marvel did better was promoting original African American/black superheroes back in the 70's, which has allowed them to blossom today.
(Black Panther, Blade, Storm, Luke Cage)

But even at Marvel Black Panther is the only one with a long running series in recent years.

[Captain Nostalgia]

But even at Marvel Black Panther is the only one with a long running series in recent years.

Marvel typically has had better representation of heroes of African decent than D.C.

That being said, if your looking for a reason as to why there is a lack of minority heroes in titles than it really boils down to finances.

Unfortunately print medium is a dying industry, so I wouldn't be surprised if DC comics isn't around in 30 years.

The amount of titles are shrinking, and when they do put out something new, it's usually risk adverse titles like Batman.

[skyvolt2000]

Short answer chances in comics for completely new character without any connection to one of the established franchises to succeed are unfortuantly very low.

I might be wrong but I think the last time DC had a completely original character with a somewhat long running solo book was Hitman, and that character was created in 1993.

I'm not sure how it looks for Marvel, but I doubt that it is much better.

Define long running series is that 24 or 36 or 50 issues?
Also how many books have been stopped due events or some silly restart?
Zatanna, Power Girl and others lost their books due to New 52 not sales.

To answer your question-

Marvel's original characters that lasted say 24 issues or have at least 30 solo issues (not linked to a franchise or legacy)
Darkhawk
Sleepwalker
Moon Girl
Luke Cage
Moon Knight
Punisher
New Warriors
Hawkeye
Shang Chi
Ironfist
Black Panther
Shuri (gray area)
Runaways
Black Widow
Dr Strange
Squirrel Girl
Rocket Raccoon (gray area)

DC
Hitman
Spectre
Black Lightning (combined books)
Cyborg (combined books)
Hitman
Demon
Warlord

There are more but they don't have the 30 solo issues. Most stopped at 18 or lower.

[Hypestyle]

where are the high profile black villains?

[king81992]

where are the high profile black villains?

There's Black Manta.

[Hypestyle]

There's Black Manta.

interesting.

Nobody for Batman? Superman? Wonder Woman?

[JorgeJ77]

interesting.

Nobody for Batman? Superman? Wonder Woman?

Well, for Superman, there's Bloodsport.

[BlueRuggo]

I don't agree with the original premise of this thread. DC has historically featured a more diverse set of characters, particularly when it comes to LGBT representation. I would even argue that DC was ahead of its time in that regard, if you look at its realistic handling of Obsidian's homosexuality in Justice League of America.

Or is this thread about RACIAL minorities only? If so, that seems flawed.

[Samm]

I don't agree with the original premise of this thread. DC has historically featured a more diverse set of characters, particularly when it comes to LGBT representation. I would even argue that DC was ahead of its time in that regard, if you look at its realistic handling of Obsidian's homosexuality in Justice League of America.

Or is this thread about RACIAL minorities only? If so, that seems flawed.

It’s about racial minorities because at the end of the day, most of DC’s high profile LGBT characters are still White. Women shouldn’t even count as minorities either since they’re half the population and again, DC’s high profile women are all White with the exception of Jessica in recent years.

[Stanlos]

DC
Green Lanterns #28 -- 30,024
Green Lanterns #29 -- 29,451
Bane Conquest #4 -- 17,615
New Super-Man #14 -- 12,339
Blue Beetle #12 -- 11,574
Cyborg #15 -- 10,949

Marvel
Captain America #25 -- 40,428
Spider-Man #19 -- 30,387
Black Panther #17 -- 25,609
Totally Awesome Hill #22 -- 24,995
Infamous Iron-Man #11 -- 24,676
Ms Marvels #21 -- 17,010
Luke Cage #4 -- 12,330
America #6 -- 9,548
Moon Girl #22 --7,466

So recently I got into a debate on social media about DC and Marvel's treatment of their minority characters. Somewhere along the way some fans started to claim that DC did diversity right while Marvel' s way felt more like an agenda or fulfilling a quota so to speak. Others felt Marvel's approach was correct and more successful. That got me curious to see which claim had more merit. To my surprise the second claim can actually be backed up by factual sales instead of ones opinion.

I listed the comic sales for the month of August above. As you can see, Marvel's roster of minority character's is in a much healthier position than their DC counterpart. Now of course there are exceptions, Green Lanterns is in a healthy position whereas Luke Cage, America and Moon Girl definitely aren't. However the fact still remains, DC's are not only at a lower issue number but also much closer to cancellation.

My question is why do you think that is? Why is their such a wide gap? Marvel has a few minority characters at 100+ solo issues (Shang Chi, Luke Cage, Black Panther) and some newer ones at 50+ (Miles, Miguel, Ms Marvel, War Machine) but DC has none at 100+ (unless you count Kyle who was reconned to be Latino) and their 50+ character's will likely never see a solo again due to fanboyism (Cass Cain, John Stewart, Steel, Static... Blue Beetle Is the exception here).

Because Marvel makes way better choices than the previous regime. With the MASSIVE head start they had you would think they would be smart enough to use them but nope

[Vordan]

where are the high profile black villains?

Can we count the Milestone Rogues? Because then DC has Marvel beat, although neither really have more than a handful of great ones.